Featuring new and familiar faces to the Central Florida audience, CHARM offers a modern and delightful take on a 19th-century heroine

Charm - Avery Clark/Katherine Michelle Tanner

PRLog - March 16, 2011 - ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF concludes its 2010-2011 Signature Series with Kathleen Cahill’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize-Nominated comedy, CHARM, playing at the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center from March 23 – April 17, 2011.

Margaret Fuller and the Transcendentalists are not a rock group. And CHARM isn’t your typical history play. But Margaret is the woman who inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Directed by Patrick Flick, Kathleen Cahill’s CHARM is a romantic comedy of manners that follows the life of Margaret Fuller, a remarkable woman who lived during the mid-1800s. Fuller, a contemporary of three great American thinkers – Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne – was a brilliant writer, philosopher, and social critic far ahead of her time. Full of luscious language and juicy anachronisms, CHARM is a modern, hilarious and stimulating piece that magically weaves in and out of history.

“CHARM is a fantasia on American history with a woman at the center,” said playwright Kathleen Cahill. “I hope audiences will be enchanted, amused, moved, briefly lifted out of their lives, and leave the theater with a passionate desire to know more about Margaret Fuller. I hope they will think about how history can hide its heroes – how things change and stay the same.”

Directed by resident artist Patrick Flick, CHARM features Katherine Michelle Tanner, who will reprise her role as the anachronistic and intellectual Margaret Fuller. Avery Clark, currently on our stage in the Spring Repertory as Lysander in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and Mr. Darcy in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, will take on multiple roles as George Parker/Sam Ward/Descartes. Walter Kmiec, also in the Spring Rep as Demetrius and Mr. Bingley, will play Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author inspired by Fuller to write The Scarlet Letter. Eric Zivot, last seen in HAMLET and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, will take on the role of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Local favorite Brandon Roberts returns to his role as Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden Pond. CHARM also features Trent Fucci as Orestes Brownson, Allison DeCaro as Lydian Emerson, and Kelli Sleigh as Anna Barker/Sparkler.

DEVELOPMENT OF CHARM:CHARM received its first reading at the University of Utah’s New Play Workshop in June 2008, followed by a workshop at the Icicle Creek Theatre Festival in Seattle, and readings at Lark Theatre Playwrights Week (NY), Salt Lake Acting Company, and Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s PlayFest! The Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays. Orlando Shakes also produced a workshop production of CHARM in November 2009. A reading of CHARM was featured at the National New Play Network Showcase in Atlanta, directed by Orlando Shakes’ resident artist Patrick Flick. CHARM made its world premiere at the Salt Lake Acting Company in April 2010 where it was awarded a $27,000 grant from the Edgerton Foundation for New American Play Awards. The Salt Lake Acting Company nominated CHARM for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

ABOUT KATHLEEN CAHILL:Kathleen Cahill’s awards include the Jane Chambers Playwrighting Award, a Connecticut Commission on the Arts Playwrighting Award, a Massachusetts Artists Foundation Award, a Rockefeller Grant, a National Endowment for the Arts New American Works Grant, and a Drama League Award. Her musical, The Navigator, was recently performed in concert at Berklee College of Music in Boston. (Songs from The Navigator, performed by The Broadway Boys can be heard on YouTube.) Her musical Friendship of the Sea toured for two seasons with the North Shore Music Theatre Educational Outreach Program. Other musical works include Dakota Sky (Olney Theatre; Norris Theatre, L.A.); Clara, an opera about Clara Schumann (Maryland Center for the Arts), Water on the Moon (Voice of America radio play), Fatal Song (Maryland Center for the Performing Arts), A Tale of Two Cities: Paris and Berlin in the Twenties (also Maryland Center for the Performing Arts). Her plays include The Still Time (Georgia Rep/ Porchlight Theatre, Chicago), the comedy Women Who Love Science Too Much (Porchlight Theatre and NPR), and Henri Louise and Henry (Cleveland Public). Ms. Cahill received an MFA in Writing for Music-Theatre from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a BA in English Literature from Northeastern University. She works as a writer/senior editor for Masterpiece on PBS.

What - CHARM By Kathleen Cahill

Where - Orlando Shakespeare Theater in the Goldman TheaterAt the John and Rita Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 East Rollins Street, Orlando, FL 32803

ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCE INFORMATION:Previews: March 23 and March 24, 2011 at 7pm - all seats $16Opening Night: Friday, March 25, 2011 at 8pmSenior Matinees: Wednesday, March 30, April 6, and April 13, 2011 - all seats $15Post-Show Talkback: Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 7pm (following the performance)$20 Under 30: Friday, April 8, 2011 - Tickets for that evening’s performance are just $20 for those under 30 years old. The evening starts at 6:30 p.m. with a pre-show happy hour featuring $2 beer and $3 wine.Closed Caption: Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 2pm

Tickets are available by calling 407-447-1700 or online at http://orlandoshakes.org and in person at the box office located inside the Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 East Rollins Street in Orlando’s Loch Haven Cultural Park. Box Office hours are 12pm to show time, Tuesday-Saturday, and one hour prior to show time on Sundays for walk up sales. On non-performance days, the Box Office closes at 5pm. The Box Office is closed on Mondays.

Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF is supported by United Arts of Central Florida with funds from the United Arts campaign and by State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council. The 2010-2011 Signature Series is made possible by series sponsor Darden Restaurants. This production of CHARM is made possible by LarsonAllen, RegionsBank and UBS.

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Now celebrating its 22nd season and with Shakespeare as its standard and inspiration, Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF has grown into one of the region’s most acclaimed Equity theaters producing bold professional theater in Central Florida. Under the leadership of Managing Director Shannon Lacek and Artistic Director Jim Helsinger, Orlando Shakespeare Theater continues to achieve the highest standards, while preserving its artistic and cultural legacy. Through PlayFest! The Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays, Orlando Shakespeare Theater is nationally recognized for its contribution to the development of new plays. Orlando Shakes also provides innovative educational experiences through its youth education programming, serving over 25,000 young people, families, and schools annually.